Smoke Signals
by gibbsandtonysbabe
Summary: Sometimes you need more than words to make someone believe that they are everything you will ever want and that they are worth it. Fair warning: This is Slash, if that isn't your thing no worries that is what back buttons are for!


I must thank my most wonderful and awesome Beta Amy! She is amazing and I am forever thankful for all that she does for me.

I must remind everyone..that I own nothing of NCIS ( don't I wish) and make no money off of this. This is me playing with my most favorite people in the world!

This was written for Tibbs Yuletide on LJ. This has a beautiful picture that goes with it on LJ done by the exceptional Hinky_hippo!

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It was time he showed the man that he was serious. It had been five years and he was ready to move them forward. He knew that Jethro believed him in his heart when he said that he was enough and that he didn't want anyone else…but words were just that…words and his head was having a hard time accepting.

It wasn't that much different from when he had to convince the man to give them a shot. At first Jethro was willing to just let that kiss be explained away by excuses…they were drunk…it was the mistletoe…they were pranking the team. However, he what saw on Tony's face made him understand that he didn't want it to go away or pretend that it never happened.

Now it was time to back his words with some action. He could certainly understand where the older man came up with the cockamamie ideas that he wasn't enough, that somehow he was lacking that mystical invisible thing that would allow them a future. His excuses were ludicrous…he was too old…too much of a bastard….set in his ways and no matter how many times he told the older man those were some of the things that he loved about the man he still had those doubts.

Just because it wasn't logical didn't mean he didn't understand, frankly he understood the illogical ideas that defined ones self-worth all too well. Jethro having lost his girls so suddenly precipitated by the fact that he was a Marine and more often than not deployed had skewed his ability to see his value in a relationship.

Having never fully recovered from the loss of his girls combined with his guilt that he hadn't been there to protect them had led Jethro down a path of simply trying to replace what he had lost. Though he had some fault in those relationships failing, there were always two sides after all; it was not all on him.

Still the failures had left their imprint and the voices of the ex-wives had most certainly found a home in the recesses of the older man's mind. Tony was battling remnants left by words that pierced Jethro's soul shot with angry barbs by three ex-wives.

So he knew that he needed something big, that would speak to the man and leave no doubt that he was everything that he had ever wanted, even when he was unaware that he wanted it. That they were forever and he would fight anything and anyone to keep him; that he was more than worth everything.

For two flawed men this was a big thing. He didn't think that the man had any idea how much he had taught him about loyalty and family. He had never known either until NCIS. There had been some definite rough spots along the way…times where he wondered why he stayed. Jenny, the Mexican Siesta, the aftermath and the time when he felt that Jethro had forgotten the fact that they were a team.

Somehow, they had managed to repair the damage and had come out stronger and frankly better. He was far more centered, hid a great deal less of himself than he had and stood his ground when he needed. And for all the struggles they had gone through that was also what had allowed them both to see what was right in front of them.

It sure as hell wasn't a walk in the park to make that jump…that kiss had taken them both by surprise. For him it was something that he had wanted from the beginning…but he hadn't realized how much until their lips touched. Jethro was a little bit slower in the acceptance, not that they were men, but that he didn't want to rock the boat and ruin what had been repaired. Stubborn asses…the both of them really…but here they were five years later.

It really didn't take him long to think of just what he wanted to do; he'd been speaking Gibbsspeak for over eleven years and knew just what would get his message across. It wasn't going to be easy and he didn't have much time to get it all done before the snow made it difficult…but it would be just what he needed to back his words. Actions Jethro read loud and clear.

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Tony was running around like a lunatic gathering everything they would need, adding a few things they might want and trying to get everything finished in time. He was sweaty as hell and he had never felt better. This was where he wanted to be and who he wanted to be.

Hadn't always been like that, took years before he was comfortable in his own skin. Not too surprising taking into consideration his role model, he had more than gone out of his way to be nothing like his father.

But it wasn't until that one fateful day in Baltimore when he landed a perfect tackle and found himself looking into a pair of blue eyes that had turned his world on its axis. He wasn't prepared for it and it sure as hell wasn't anything that he had expected but all these years later, he knew that it was everything that he wanted.

In retrospect, he knew that was probably how it was supposed to happen…just kinda shake you upside and make you forget the others that came before. And it really didn't matter when you got right down to it…it simply was.

So now he was about to shake up the older man's life and show him what had been right there all along. That he really didn't need or want the mansion on the hill and the life that went along with it. That was his father's style and though he himself might like a few of the finer things, he knew what was truly important; friends that he could count on no matter what, a job that he loved beyond reason and love.

Love was the one thing that he had never really expected would come his way, especially when it had in the form of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Still, it had he was going to show the man that he was more than enough and everything that he ever wanted. Since falling for the self-proclaimed bastard he knew what all those movies, books and flowery words of love were written about.

By no means did that turn him into a prose ridden flowery worded grinning idiot, but he did love the man with a fierceness that surprised even him. There was nothing that he wouldn't do for him and he would sell his soul to protect what they had.

He smiled as he looked around at what he had accomplished so far and knew that there was no mistaking what his message was. Placing the pictures on the mantle, he knew that it was ready. Lighting the fire in the fireplace he started dinner knowing that soon his smoke signal would be noticed.

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He looked at his watch wondering where the man had disappeared to this time. For close to two weeks he had been MIA for extended periods and never really gave him an answer to what he was up to when he came home. Tony had merely given him a secretive smile and kissed all his worries away.

But tonight the house looked and felt different, nothing he could quite put his finger on, but there were definite changes. He started wandering around and began to notice things were missing; their bathrobes, clothes, miscellaneous items and things that were Tony's were not there.

More was missing than he had first noticed. For a moment his heart stopped…this couldn't be happening. Was Tony leaving him? However, that didn't seem to make sense - some were his. He stopped the train of thought before it got out of hand and began to investigate.

He noticed the keys to the cabin missing…but why would Tony go there? They had added a few comforts and such but it was nowhere near what he would deem it Tony comfortable. He grabbed his keys, gun and coat and headed out to test out his theory.

As he started up the driveway, the smoke from the chimney beckoned him home. He was astonished at the beautiful lights that adorned the roofline and the wreath upon the door. This no longer seemed like the cabin that he had built for solace and escape…it was welcoming him home.

He sat in the car and looked at what his wayward lover had done. He now understood what the secretive smile was for but why? Exiting the car, he made his way up the walkway wondering what other surprises lay in store for him.

Opening the door quietly hoping to get a chance to look around before being noticed, he stood in amazement as he looked around. It was the same-yet it wasn't. The warmth inside the cabin wasn't simply coming from the fire in the hearth, but from everything that had been carefully brought into the home.

There were pictures adorning the walls; Shannon, Kelly, Jackson, the Team and ones of them together. Some were displayed on the mantle, on top of a small TV on a bookcase he had carved that was filled with books and DVDs and there were things all over the place that bespoke of the two of them…their lives together.

Tony stepped out of the tiny kitchen wiping his hands as he watched Jethro taking it all in; walking around touching everything and as his eyes took in the pictures.

Turning around he looked at Tony as a small smile graced his face. "You did all this?" His hands gestured to everything.

"Yes."

"It's perfect…its home."

"Our home…face it Jethro, my home is wherever you are. You are all that I will ever need and want."

Moving towards Tony intent on getting his arms around the younger man as words simply were not going to do everything he was feeling justice. This was far more than he deserved but he was going to hang on and never let go. Grabbing Tony into his arms their lips met and if it were possible, the cabin would have sighed in contentment. They were home.


End file.
